Crysis developer Crytek has revealed that over 250 universities from around the world have signed up for the CryEngine 3 educational license in the last year.

The free license is currently used by a variety of different academic institutions, including physics, computer science, architecture and film-making. The educational SDK can be used by university educators for course teaching and research projects.

Carl Jones, director of global business development for the CryEngine, said of the achievement, "We are absolutely delighted by the huge interest that academics from all around the globe have shown in CryEngine 3."

"It’s really an honor for us to be considered the first-choice technology for so many leading universities. We consider them as strong partners, both in developing great software and improving our engine; and are really interested in further expanding those relationships."

The third CryEngine development platform was first launched in October 2009 to developers. A free educational license for the engine was released 12 months ago.

Avni Yerli, managing director at Crytek, noted, "From its very first days, Crytek aimed to strongly support students and educators by sharing the CryEngine tools with universities."

"Thousands of students now have access to the same cutting-edge technology that the world’s best developers are using for their ongoing projects. With our CryEngine 3 educational SDK we want to enable them to achieve their vision and create their very own innovation to become the next generation of developers."

Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli revealed earlier in the week that a free SDK for CryEngine 3 will also be released this August. The SDK will be free to use for non-commercial purposes, though it can be used for commercial games as well, with Yerli saying the company "will offer an innovative low cost licensing model" for anyone going that route.